Getting ‘In Synch’ via Craft Chocolate

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This week’s blog post is an attempt to suggest how craft chocolate, and the stories of the farmers and makers, will make your Valentine’s Day even more synchronised, stimulating and sensual,  via two “Ms” (not M&Ms!):

• Mimetic Behaviour
• Mirroring

Some of this may seem a bit theoretical. But hopefully it’ll provide some food for thought. And some fun experiments.

If you’d rather go straight the chocolate, please just go straight to our selections HERE, and do join one of Valentine’s Day tastings HERE.

Mimetic Behaviour

Ever wondered what’s really happening when suddenly everyone around you is fascinated by a song, planning to run a marathon, wearing a certain colour, reading an author, or eating salted caramels? Or at a more visceral level, have you ever wondered why when one child is interested in ‘toy A’ in the playbox suddenly all the other children want the same toy? Or what is really happening with FOMO (fear of missing out)?

Back in the 1960s, Rene Girard, a French polymath, published a theory of human behaviour based off reading Cervantes, Shakespeare, Stendhal, Proust, and Dostoevsky, etc. that offered an intriguing answer. He suggested that “we desire according to the desire of the other … we rely on mediators or models to help us understand who and what to desire”. Put another way, when we see others taking enjoyment from something, we want to ‘mimic’ that. And when we see someone else getting pleasure from the same thing we enjoy, this also gives us a psychological ‘boost’.

Many of the conclusions Girard came to from applying this idea are pessimistic and controversial (for example, his theory on scapegoats and it being easier to agree on what we stand against rather than believe in).

But he also applied his insight to explain the ‘hows’ and ‘whys’ of feeling a connection to, for example, someone at a concert who is smiling at the same bits of music as we enjoy them too, and how this “establishes a bond”. And it also offers an intriguing insight as to how we learn the ‘instinct’ of disgust (which may not be instinctual…) and why this is so different across cultures, and why the look of disgust is the same one we make when we eat something bitter.

Applying Mimesis to Craft Chocolate

Craft chocolate is one of those things that (almost) everyone enjoys. And savouring craft chocolate is a great way of synchronising your delight and emotions. Sure you can share your passion for a piece of music. But how many of your friends have the same music ‘tastes’? And more to the point, does your partner, or Valentine, share the same music taste? The same is true of books (and that’s why book clubs are still so popular). 

So whilst you may have to compromise on what music to listen to or film to view with your partner this Valentine’s Day, craft chocolate shouldn’t be a compromise. (Almost) everyone loves chocolate, especially craft chocolate. Sure you may have individual favourites. But that’s part of the fun. It’s like discussing which song from your favourite artist you like most with a fellow fan. It’s not like debating punk versus classical music.

At our tastings, it’s wonderful to see how craft chocolate is a common bond and source of delight. Indeed one of the most uplifting parts of our virtual tastings is witnessing the enjoyment of people (anonymously) sharing one another’s descriptions and delights (note: this obviously isn’t true of some of the ‘challenging’ bars like the 100%, but that’s still fun). Craft chocolate’s flavours, textures, sensuality, and depths provide a great bridge to bond and enjoy together.

If you don’t believe this; try it. Select one of our Valentine’s Day treats, or Chocolarder’s truffles, and savour the chocolate together. As you find chocolates you both enjoy, it’ll showcase the psychological power of mimesis. And it’s fun. And stimulating. And sensual.

 And come to a virtual tasting session! See HERE for the reviews.

Mirroring

What’s really extraordinary is that, in the last few years, neuroscientists have started to back up Girard’s theories with experiments that show how shared experiences and narratives bring people together not just psychologically but also physiologically. Literally people’s heart rates, breathing, pupil dilations, hormone releases, etc. will synchronise as they read (or see) the same stories. 

To read more about this, please see some interesting articles and podcasts below, with links to the original research by Perez et al. (and it’s their image above in the header):

https://lukeburgis.com/mimetic-desire/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211124721011396
https://violenceandreligion.com/mimetic-theory/
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/927995
https://mimeticmargins.com/2016/01/25/mimetic-food-habits
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211124721011396 (hard going!)
https://news.sky.com/story/our-heartbeats-synchronise-while-were-listening-to-stories-researchers-find-12408000
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcuMLQVAgEg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgAcOqVRfYA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72svGiOaKMk

 If you are into book clubs, you’ll already instinctively understand this. You can explore the work we’re doing on book clubs HERE.

But if you want to take your craft chocolate savouring to a new level, why not also read the stories of the farmers and makers in the chocolates you are enjoying with your partner at the same time? Unlike mass produced chocolate and confectionery, we know where the beans come from and where they are crafted for every bar (and bonbon) we sell. And on the website and bar pages, we’ve the stories that explain the inspiration behind all our makers, and more, and more of the farmers, co-operatives and NGOs with whom they are working.

If you want to hear more about why this is important and experience how moving it can be, please see the ‘Craft Chocolate in Conversation‘ we had with Dr Kristy Leissle HERE (and taste along with the accompanying chocolate HERE). And we are excited that for our next conversation with Kristy we’ll be hearing even more from Benjamin, who will share his experiences of what growing up, and working, on a Ghanaian cocoa farm was really like.

As ever, thanks for your support. 

And please do avoid mimetic FOMO: Please place your orders for Valentine’s Day soon (the last day for safe delivery here in the UK really is Thursday). Find everything you’ll need HERE.

Spencer

P.S. If you want to test your knowledge about St Valentine’s Day, we’ve assembled a short multiple choice quiz of 8 questions. Please see HERE. We’ll pick one winner next Thursday and send out their prize; a Valentine’s Day hamper; to arrive (Royal Mail permitting) to celebrate the 14th in style!